THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 151, October 2025
Dog of the month: Otis The Drinks Cabinet, Aberdour
Wine retailers left high and dry by credit card scams Vineyards and Cork of the North lose cash and stock worth more than £10,000 despite banks accepting fake payments
W
ine merchants are being urged
reasonable steps to ensure the payments
need to take once they become the victims
to be vigilant after leading
were genuine and are appalled that the
of a scam.
indies were conned out of
banks have offered no protection or
thousands of pounds by scammers posing as customers. In both cases the retailers have been unable to recover their losses, even though
compensation. Police have been unable to help in either case. There is a dearth of information available
they did not release wines until payments
from banks or online about how retailers
had been cleared.
can protect themselves from credit and
Hannah Wilkins of Vineyards in
debit card fraud, or about what steps they
In the cases of both Vineyards and Cork of the North, the fraudsters attempted repeat purchases once the retailers had been persuaded to believe that the transactions were genuine, having been accepted by the bank. • Analysis: pages 10-12
Sherborne, Dorset, has been left more than £3,000 out of pocket by fraudsters who claimed to be ordering Champagne for a hen weekend at a nearby Airbnb. The money had safely landed in her account before she made the delivery 48 hours later. Marc Hough of Cork of the North in Manchester was suspicious of three requests for wines that were ordered by phone and paid for by card. But when his bank assured him all payments had been cleared – amounting to around £6,000 – he told staff the stock could be released to the couriers collecting from his premises. Hough was contacted two days later and advised that the transactions were fraudulent after all, that the cards had been stolen or cloned, and that he was obliged to refund the money. The losses for both businesses go higher than the value of the transactions because of the stock that cannot be recovered. Both merchants believe they took
Rathfinny Wine Estate in East Sussex has done away with the 300 sq km of netting it usually drapes over its vines to protect them from birds. Instead, falconers are on hand with raptors like this peregrine falcon to encourage local crows, pigeons and seagulls to find other places to feed.